“…we see intentionality in agency where there is none at all. So we’re quick to think that even a machine—a vending machine that doesn’t deliver, that doesn’t dispense what I order is angering me—and in some way I am making a judgment of moral blame, when, in fact, there is absolutely no intentionality there.”

NPR’s Shankar Vedantam (@hiddenbrain) reports on a new twist on the foot-in-the-door effect, using an unusual first request to secure later compliance. Participants who were first approached with an unusual request — will you time my shoes? — were then more likely to be helpful later on.

“rationality should be considered anything that is in the service of helping people pursue their goals. And so it is rational for people to support any policy that furthers their goals – whatever those goals may be.”

if you cannot be happy without knowing, then i don’t think you’re cut out for science. some people need to know. that is fine. but those people should not become scientists, and especially not social scientists. predicting human behavior is not for the faint of heart. you must be prepared to be wrong, and wrong again, and again, and again. richard feynman seems to have been an extremely happy man. knowledge is not necessary for happiness.

About our Blog

Character & Context is the blog of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP). With more than 7,500 members, SPSP is the largest organization of social psychologists and personality psychologists in the world.